Xylopia acutiflora (Dunal) A. Rich. [family ANNONACEAE]

Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Burkill, H.M. 1985. The useful plants of west tropical Africa, Vol 1
Names
Xylopia acutiflora (Dunal) A. Rich. [family ANNONACEAE]
Common names
English the fruit — mountain spice (of Sierra Leone). French elo à petites feuilles (1). SIERRA LEONE: MANDING-MANINKA (Koranko) kenε (S&F) MENDE hewe (NWT) kpa-hina (def.-hinei) (S&F) ngele-hewe (def.-i), ngele: sky (S&F) nja hewe = Xylopia (hewe) growing in water (nja) (Aylmer; JMD) TEMNE an-lane (NWT) am-pos; an-pos (JMD) ma-tsel the spice (JMD) GHANA: ANYI-SEHWI dwombobre (FRI) GBE-VHE tsyo (Akpabla) HAUSA kimbáá (Akpabla) NIGERIA: EDO úniẹ́nẹ̀zẹ̀, ẹ̀zẹ̀: waterside (JMD) WEST CAMEROONS: ‘BAMILEKE’ ki (Johnstone)
Uses
fruit Food: sauces, condiments, spices, flavourings bark Medicines: pain-killers bark Medicines: pulmonary troubles bark Medicines: fabrifuges bark Products: building materials wood Products: farming, forestry, hunting and fishing apparatus
Description
A shrub or medium-sized tree to 13–15 m high of the rain-forest from Sierra Leone to W Cameroon, and extending to Zaïre and Rhodesia.The wood is yellowish. It is used for cross-bows (3) and in Gabon, for paddles (5, 6) and the shafts of harpoons (6).The bark is thin but is used in Gabon to make walls and partitions of houses (5, 6). In the Ivory Coast it is used to treat bronchio-pneumonial affections and for febrile pains (2).The fruit is red or blackish, 4.5–5.0 cm long by 1.0–1.5 cm thick, curved, turgid when ripe with a coral-red pulp having a spicy taste like several other X. species (4).
References
References:1. Aubréville, 1959: 138. 2. Bouquet & Debray, 1974: 19. 3. Dalziel, 1937. 4. Keay & al., 1960: 41. 5. Le Thomas, 1969: 169–72.
Contributor
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Xylopia acutiflora (Dunal) A. Rich. [family ANNONACEAE]
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